Just picked up a 2005 SX230 - oil light on I think

[Whiskey]

Can anyone tell me if this is a low oil light warning? It came on twice and the motor wouldn’t rev as high. I turned off the boat for a few minutes and it cleared. After the second time I brought it slowly into the boat launch and loaded it.

Is this a low oil level light? I’m new to the boat and the previous owner said he had never seen it. It has freash 10-30 in it from last winters storage oil change/winterization.

Is there a good place to find the owners manual to learn the proper oil check procedure?

Here is the light that came on. I circled the indicator in the picture but didn’t snap a picture while it was actually lit.

 

[Paulie]

That is the oil pressure warning light.

Here is an excerpt ftom the manual. Oil Pressure – If oil pressure does not rise to specification, the oil pres- sure warning indicator comes on. At the same time, engine speed reduc- tion control is activated, limiting maximum speed to 3000 rpm. If this occurs, reduce engine speed and return to shore. Have a Yamaha dealer check the engine oil pres- sure.

 

[Paulie]

Here is the procedure for checking the oil level

 

[buckbuck]

Does the oil pressure light come on after the engine is hot and you are at idle?
Yamaha recommended going to 10w-40 weight oil for these engines a few years after printing the manuals.

 

[Whiskey]

Thank you for the info I’ll check levels this morning.

The light came on after we were running at high RPM running along two PWC’s out on the open lake. After letting the engine sit for a few minutes turned off it stayed off. While off we checked the clean outs to make sure nothing was in there.

Then later when I ran at high RPM again it came on. I again turned off the motor and let it sit then can directly into shore at low RPM and loaded it up on the trailer.

 

[Beachbummer]

And how was the oil level? If the level is too low I could imagine oil pressure could follow from oil starvation as the oil os busy elsewhere stuck to other surfaces??? (A stretch, but a well meaning one, as the fix would be to add a little oil if it's too low)

 

[Gym]

Two other things to check...Water in the oil will thin the oil and reduce oil pressure. You mentioned the oil was changed but was the filter changed also? A partially clogged filter can cause a loss of pressure at high speed.

 

[buckbuck]

Did the light come on with the engines at high rpm or low rpm? I have found that even when following the procedure in the manual I can get differing readings every time. Do your best at following exactly and simply feel confident that you at least HAVE oil in the engines. You should have a reading somewhere on the crosshatch area.

 

[Whiskey]

Thanks guys, didn't appreciate all the great response this morning. Headed out now to check. Had to sleep in after a long day driving to pick the boat up and tow it home, then all evening on the water.

I'm headed out to check oil levels now.

 

[Whiskey]

Engines are cold and boat isn’t perfectly level. The aft is slightly lower than the bow.

Both engines appear to be low in oil and the oil doesn’t appear clear. Wouldn't the oil be more clear if he winterized it last winter?

 

[Whiskey]

I want to change the oil regardless but for today how much should I add with the sticks with only this much on them?

 

[buckbuck]

@Whiskey please read the procedure for checking level that @Paulie sent above. You cannot check the level with engines cold. This is a common error that many do, including dealers. I don't suggest adding any oil right now. On my boat with same engines I do not read anything on the stick when cold. It is possible you are over full now which is a bad thing.
We are here for you and love to help new guys get familiar with their boats. After all, we have made most of the mistakes already.

 

[Gym]

I want to change the oil regardless but for today how much should I add with the sticks with only this much on them?

That oil level is fine for your MR-1 engines. Color looks ok also. You should only see oil at the very bottom of the stick when the engine is cold. After running at about 7000 rpm for 6 or 7 minutes. then go to idle for a minute or two then shut down and check your level. It should now read near the full mark.

If somebody filled the oil before you got it you may have blown excess oil in the air box. You should remove the top cover and check the air filters. they may be coated with oil. The bottom of the air box may also have puddles of oil in it. Coated air filters will cause reduced speeds and possible overheating at high speeds.

 

[Whiskey]

More great advice guys. Thank you!

I did read the oil check procedures above and they are a huge help. Thank you @Paulie

I didn’t add any more oil when cold - I decided to bring the boat out and let it warm up before any changes. Once in the water and after warm up I checked it again and if anything the oil levels were lower. I added 1/6 th quart per engine and ran it the rest of the day with out stressing it, figuring I was getting a bad pressure reading due to the 10-30 oil in the motors.

The low pressure light came on again and I checked again and the oil on both was between high and low on both. Must be due to the 10-30 oil right?

I decided to run it as is but just not run her hard. It’s cheap 10-30 oil and I want some 10-40 Mobile 1 in the engines and fresh filters in the motors.

What’s the best way to extract all of the old crap Dino oil that is in the engines? Is there a good FAQ on how to drain as much as possible of the old oil out? I have a oil vacuum the previous owner was kind enough to provide with the boat.

Thank you for all the help. These forums are amazing and this is a great community!

 

[bronze_10]

Well.... somewhere on here someone has a post and picks on how to drain the oil from the bottom of the engine..... I can tell u from experience u will need a short wrench, a plastic milk jug, a mirror and a contortionist from the circus to get to it.... u cant see it without looking at it through the mirror.... it's not easy! Ask me how I known. Normally you just suck out what's in the holding tank where the dip stick is. U put back the same amount u take out.

 

[Gym]

Although 10w40 is now recommended for our MR-1s, 10w30 will not cause a low pressure light unless the level is actually low or you have water in your oil. The easiest way to change MOST of your oil is to do 2-3 repetative oil changes. If you do this change your filters on the first change to remove the contaminated oil.

 

[Whiskey]

My main concern with doing a few of the "2 quart short draw" style changes is not getting all of the low quality conventional oil out of the motor, adding synthetic oil in and at the end of the day end up being a hybrid of synthetic and conventional oils in the engines. I'll see if I can find the full oil drain procedure in the forums, even though that doesn't sound like a fun afternoon.

So the 10-30 won't cause the low pressure light to come on? It seem strange that it's coming on then. Now I'm concerned again. Could I have an oil pump issue or is it more likely that I'm not reading the oil level correctly?

 

[Beachbummer]

Could be an oil pressure sensor problem too... Maybe too high a pressure causes it to read bad?

Yds while running would be great to see a number associated with the "low pressure" if it goes negative? Or straight to zero, or possible real low reading to validate what the issue may be.

If you throttle down, does the oil light immediately go away?

 

[Whiskey]

@Beachbummer Throttling down to idle does not cause the low pressure light to go away. The light stays on untill I turn off the boat for a few minutes. When I start it back up it will only come on sustained high RPM running.

I picked up the YDS kit and thought about bringing it with me on the second day but we had a full boat and the ladies didn't like high speed running as it was pretty choppy and windy for them. I figured I would take it out another day when it's just my son and I, confirm I have the correct oil amounts in the engines and and run the YDS while revving the boat on some wide open stretches.

 

[biglar155]

I'll admit I'm speaking out of school here, but I'd caution against switching an older engine to Synthetic. If it's been run on conventional oil its whole life, the detergents in the fancy Mobil One stuff might clean away the gunk that's plugging holes. All of a sudden you'll find you're leaking and burning oil.

I had this happen in my '05 Suburban after I got the brilliant idea to switch her to synthetic with over 150K miles on her. Several oil changes later (going back to conventional) things settled down.

I'm not sure if this can happen with our MR-1 engines or not. Just my personal experience.

Edit: Fixed my "your" and made it a "you're". Couldn't help myself.